Bridging the Gap
by Lord Archive
Summary: The wedding had failed and Akane wants to try a new tactic to deal with her issues with Ranma. (Post manga character piece.)


**Bridging the Gap**

_By Lord Archive_

Characters belong to Rumiko Takahashi and a bunch of companies and are  
>used without consent.<p>

This occurs the same day as the final panel of Manga volume 38.

* * *

><p>Ranma was not pleased with the idea to return to school. He knew the other students would grill him about events of the wedding fiasco and whether anything else happened between him and Akane. Not to mention questions about what happened in China.<p>

Akane, however, looked happy to go to school. She was also nervous, but the rumor horde was enough to make anyone nervous.

Ranma and Akane grabbed their books bags and were ready to leave for  
>school.<p>

"I'm sure the school will understand if we don't go today," Ranma muttered.

"Ranma, we'll have to face them sooner or later, so running away won't do anything," Akane replied with a nervous smile.

"Hey, I don't run away from anything." Ranma turned and ran out of the house.

Akane shook her head and chased after him, praying he wouldn't run away from what she was planning and that it would work.

Kasumi smiled as she watched them leave, also giving the same silent prayer Akane did. She picked up the phone and dialed a number.

* * *

><p>"Ranma, will you stop for a moment?" Akane screamed at Ranma as he ran over a bridge.<p>

Ranma skidded to a stop. "What is it?"

"Follow me for a second," Akane ordered.

Ranma raised an eyebrow. "I thought you wanted to go to school."

"This is more important," Akane tried to say bluntly, but her voice nervously caught in her throat.

Ranma shrugged and followed her. Any delay in going to school would be welcomed by him.

Akane took a deep breath. "Ranma, could you sit down? I think we need to talk."

"'Talk?'" Ranma asked, surprised.

"I know it's a foreign concept to us, but we really need to talk." Akane forced herself to grin at her joke. "You know we need to talk about the failed wedding and China."

Ranma looked REALLY uncomfortable, but sat down.

Akane nervously said, "I-I think we need a few ground rules though: First, avoid insulting. Second, avoid hitting. Third, it is preferable to think about answers before responding. Forth, do not interrupt when the other person is speaking. These rules apply to me as well as you."

Ranma could tell Akane had put a lot of thought into it, as those rules sounded like Nabiki had come up with them. "F-fair enough."

Akane stood in front of him, looking at her fidgeting hands as her resolve started to fade. "Um, Ranma, I want you to know that... when I was in China and became that... dehydrated doll... I was... aware of... what was going on... I knew you all thought I... was dead... I heard Ryoga crying... I heard how upset Mousse was... I didn't hear you... I heard Ryoga trying to help you... but you wouldn't respond... I heard him hit you... you didn't respond... It was like... you died."

Akane looked at Ranma with tears in her eyes. She could tell he was very uncomfortable and was strangely quite. She continued, "I... I've only seen... someone... act like that... once." She sighed. "It... it was my father... when... Mom died... He just... shut himself off... He was... emotionally... dead... It took over a week for Kasumi to get him out of it." Akane shut her eyes tightly. "Ranma... I can't deny it anymore... and you shouldn't either... I know you... love me... Your reaction was not of someone who lost a friend... It was of someone who... lost... someone they... love more than life itself." She opened her eyes to see her fiance staring at her, completely motionless. She stood there wanting him to say something.

Shampoo called out for her 'beloved airen,' yet Ranma didn't flinch.

Ryoga cried out wanting to know where he was, Ranma didn't move a finger and Akane continued to watch.

After a half-hour Ranma finally moved, he started to stare at the ground.

"Ranma?" Akane asked, tentatively. When she didn't get a response, she sat down next to him. She wanted a response from him, but her sisters told her to let him think.

"If you had died... I'd be an emotion wreck like Mr. Tendo?" Ranma muttered out in a low voice before shaking his head.

Akane jumped when he spoke, but tried to quickly calm herself. "Something like that."

Ranma blinked, he was unaware he actually said it. "I doubt it. There is no way anyone could make me that way," he said defensively.

Akane shook her head. "You shouldn't deny it. You might have been able to recover better than daddy did, but you did emotionally die. I know you were crying when it was discovered I was still alive. And, I know you tried to say I love you when you thought I died that second time."

Ranma remained silent for a moment. "Would you react the same way I did?"

Akane frowned and shifted uneasily. "I-I'm not entirely sure. I might. I know enough that I'd risk my life for you without a second thought, because I have."

"Did ya really want to marry me?" Ranma questioned seriously.

Akane huffed. "I did put on the wedding dress."

"Did you do it just because of the Nanniichaun or because you think I love you?" Ranma wondered.

"Think? Why can't you just admit?" Akane started to get angry.

"Why can't you?" Ranma returned.

"Because I want you to say it first!" Akane countered.

"What? You don't want to be able to say you said it first?" Ranma goaded her.

"FINE! Ranma, I love you! Now you admit it!" Akane hissed out angrily.

"I love you, too." Ranma smirked.

Akane blinked. She had promised herself to make him say it first, but he got her to. "Why did you... why did you want me to say it first?"

Ranma smirked. "I think we've been playing sort of the same game. We were going to wait until the other said it first."

Akane playfully hit Ranma in shoulder. "Stupid jerk, you were going to put your pride over admitted your love."

"You were doing that too. And you just broke two of your rules." Ranma grinned. "Besides, you both won and lost. You lost because I got you to say it first and won for being able to say you said it first."

Akane let out a small laugh. "I'll take any victory over you I can." She sighed. "What do we do now though? You still have too many fiancees, and I... sort of... wanttomarryyousoon."

Ranma blinked. "Um, ah, why?"

"Er, well, its just that... with the way your life is... your next adventure could be your last... or mine. If we don't get married soon, we might never get married," Akane admitted weakly.

Ranma shook his head. "Akane, I d-do want to m-m-marry you... but I'm not ready. That is why I never really did anything about the other fiancees. With the unresolved problems, they shouldn't have tried to get us married."

"How much different would marrying me be? You already have to answer to me when you do something stupid. You protect my family from harm. The only difference I see... is, um..." Akane's face turned deep red. "...where you sleep."

Ranma suddenly shared a similar shade of deep red. After several nervous moments he questioned, "But what about the increased responsibilities?"

"We won't exactly be on our own. Kasumi will help care for the house and train me to be a good wife. Not to mention that based off current funds of the Tendo estate we have years to go before money is a problem."

"What about... children?" Ranma was blushing bright red.

Akane's face once again took a crimson shade. "We'll use birth control. I'm not exactly eager to have children as that would cause us to have a lot of responsibilities, not to mention we're both still in high school."

"Let me think about it," Ranma requested weakly. "I-I'm still not sure."

"Don't make me wait too long." Akane sighed. "At least let's work on how to handle your fiancee problem. It'll hurt them more if we don't."

Ranma slouched but still nodded.

"Good. Let's go back home and start working on some ideas," Akane suggested.

"But if we go home... won't our parents be there?" Ranma wondered with some confusion.

Akane edged away from him nervously. "Sure they are, but they already know what we've said."

Ranma's eyes went wide with shock. "W-what?"

Akane looked away. "I was talking to Kasumi about my idea of talking to you... and Nabiki somehow found out and helped work out the details. I got them to keep our parents home, but I would not be surprised if everything we said was taped and played for them."

"Just great," Ranma groaned out. "Why can't we have any privacy?"

Akane sighed. "I wish we could have some privacy, but with how nosy our family is, we're going to have to learn to ignore them."

"Even when we..." Ranma's face turned red, again.

Akane blushed as well. "We'll have to set some rules against them being nosy about THAT. Nabiki will get some rather aggressive martial arts training if she even tries to take any pictures."

Ranma sighed. "Okay, let's go. We have a lot of work ahead of us."

"We certainly do." Akane smiled.

Ranma and Akane left for home, to plan a future for the two of them.

* * *

><p>Author's Note:<p>

This is one of my older pieces from when I was trying to figure a few things out about Ranma 1/2. This primarily hitting what should be the easiest thing to do: talking. Unfortunately open and honest communication is something that is missing from many relationships and is a contributing factor to divorce. Even if Ranma and Akane shared a moment and honestly talked to each other, it doesn't mean all their problems will miraculously go away.


End file.
